The challenges
The challenges started for us in late 2019, with the Kangaroo Island bushfires. Starting on a Saturday, we worked overtime to help the SeaLink team pause and adjust campaigns proactively as the island was extensively impacted by bushfires.
The Sydney fires were also a huge challenge, because while they didn’t directly impact the client or product, they resulted in thick smoke over Sydney, and this meant a lot of people stayed indoors instead of enjoying cruises of Sydney harbour.
We had only just started recovering from these disasters before COVID-19 knocked us down. It goes without saying that a government mandated travel ban and social quarantining requirements would hit tourism companies hard and this was the case for SeaLink.
Initially we responded by dropping campaigns back as impact was assessed. Spend was cut and monitored, as people stopped shopping for travel options when they didn’t know when travel bans would end (link to blog about covid trends in tourism).
As this started to soften, we started focusing campaigns on intrastate travel, as opposed to interstate and overseas. People couldn’t leave their state, but still wanted to travel, so this started to boom. The government flooded the market with business and tourism support grants, which led to a huge increase in competition, with costs increasing and new competitors appearing in search.
